The Times 1821 - 1830 Jul 04 1826 Court of Chancery, Lancaster v. Atkinson

Jul 04 1826 Court of Chancery, Lancaster v. Atkinson

The Times, Tuesday, Jul 04, 1826; pg. 3; Issue 13010; col D                                         LAW REPORT.                                           -------------                COURT OF CHANCERY, MONDAY, JULY 3.                             LANCASTER V. ATKINSON. This was an appeal lodged by the defendant against an order made by the Vice-Chancellor on hearing the cause, in which he directed an issue. The LORD CHANCELLOR, after having heard the arguments on both sides, said, that this was not only a cause of considerable difficulty, owing to the contradictions which the parties gave to each other's statements, but also very unpleasant from the charges which the plaintiff and defendant had introduced into the pleadings against each other. They were sisters, and their father, it appeared, had died, leaving a will, by which he bequeathed his property to be equally divided between them. The bill of the plaintiff charged the defendant with having purloined from an escritoir 818 guineas, immediately after the decease of the testator, and claimed to be entitled to an equal moiety of that sum. The answer of the defendant charged the plaintiff with having committed extensive peculations on the property of the testator during his life, and required an account of the monies which her sister had become possessed of by these means. The Vice-Chancellor, when the cause was before him, directed an issue at law for the purpose of trying whether the 818 guineas were the property of the testator at the time of his death. This order, the Lord Chancellor now said, was quite correct as far as it went: but in order to reach the whole extent which the justice of the case required, it must be carried still farther. The defendant had as good a right to an inquiry into the amount of money which her sister had improperly possessed herself of during their father's life-time, as the plaintiff had to require of her share of the gold taken out of the escritoir. He would therefore direct an extended issue of this nature, and would take upon himself the task of penning the terms of the order, which he would hand down to-morrow.

 

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